The latest mass advertising platform – YouTube?

Want to get your ad in front of six million people around the world? Why not try sponsoring a crazy guy to make videos for YouTube.

Want to get your ad in front of six million people around the world? Why not try sponsoring a crazy guy to make videos for YouTube.

The Washington Post reports that chewing gum company Stride has struck advertising gold by sponsoring YouTube videos made by a chap called Matt Harding.

Harding has made himself “web famous” – apparently that is a thing now – by making films of himself doing a weird little dance in different locations around the world and posting them to the online video site.

And if that doesn’t sound like the sort of thing you want your brand to be associated with, perhaps the prospect of getting through to six million people across the world might do the trick – that’s how many hits Harding’s YouTube video has received.

Stride’s ad is an unobtrusive little image at the end of the video, but it is precisely the kind of thing that might actually get through to super-cynical YouTube users.

And Stride isn’t the only one using YouTube to get the word out. Last year softdrink brand Dr Pepper sponsored a popular music video that had been posted, while telco Sprint Nextel has plans to offer YouTube video makers a cash bonus for indulging in a bit of mobile phone product.

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